What the hell is a broken record?

[Drewcifer]

Vacuum tubes...hmm...didn't they use those in that old computer that shut off part of Philly's power? Or the really old ones you had to punch with a card, or something?

They're still used for some amps as far as I know, some models from Peavy I think.

Most guitar/bass amplifier manufacturers have moved back to using tube based designs, or hybrids of solid state/tube. Many audiopile amps are tube based as well. (edit: like above)



Spanky: Except for the tube you're probably looking at this on

[HemlockGrey]

-stratches head-

Look like something from TOS.

[aerius]

And here's a tube amp glowing nicely in the dark. This is the same amp I'm using to drive my headphones, but mine has the circuit tweaked to drop the gain so I don't blow out my 'phones

[Drewcifer]

get enough tube gear going, you can turn off the furnace in the winter

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Hmm, I didn't know vacuum tubes actually lit up.

Learn something every day.

[The Dark]

Hmm, I didn't know vacuum tubes actually lit up.

Learn something every day.

That's how you know they're working; look for the burnt-out ones. And hope they don't work on the Christmas light principle (series circuit): one light goes out, they all go out.

[phongn]

I don't suppose I should be telling him about tube amplifiers now should I?

Or vacuum tubes? Don't forget vacuum tubes.

Actually, tube/valve equipment is still in use. Most professional studios have a full arsenal of tube compressors and equalizers due to the sound quality and performance of tubes that digital can't match. And tube powered microphones are the holy grail of recording studios.

One example: I did some bass work at a studio in Nashville. My bass was recorded through a tube pre-amp, a tube compressor, and a tube EQ, and recorded on a top of the line Otari 32 track digital machine. Tube for tone, dig for recording. The best of both worlds.

They even have tube DACs

[Jadeite]

Wow, im 16 and I know what a Vinyl record is.

[Drewcifer]

They even have tube DACs

No kidding? Cool. Again, the best of both worlds
Wait, you're pulling my leg. I can see maybe a hybrid DAC, but methinks you're poking the ole music junkie with a digital stick.

[phongn]

They even have tube DACs

No kidding? Cool. Again, the best of both worlds
Wait, you're pulling my leg. I can see maybe a hybrid DAC, but methinks you're poking the ole music junkie with a digital stick.

http://www.zzounds.com/love.music?p=p.ARTDIO&f=2207

[Drewcifer]

Very cool. Thanks for the link!

[Enlightenment]

As the needle moves up or down, it reads it as frequency shifts (if I'm recalling my music class correctly). CD Players do the same thing by measuring the time the light takes to reflect off the disk.

Close. Records use amplitude modulation with the grove moving laterally in proportion to the strength of the original sound wave.

CDs work by measuring the reflectivity of the surface, not by timing beam travel. On a CD, digital information (be it data or music) is encoded by a series of reflective and non-reflective regions (pits and flats). The playback optics use a laser to illuminate the disk and a fast-response optodetector determines if the laser hit a reflective or non reflective region.

[kojikun]

Its not records, you youngens, its phonograph. LP, if im not mistaken, is long playing. Records used to be ceramic or a REALLY solid rubber (bakelite?) at one point. I have some rather old records from like 1930 or something. Its amazing how clear and crisp many records can be. We have JFK memorial records that sound better then CDs. Raw waveform information is nice. I wish they made cheap cutters.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Wow, im 16 and I know what a Vinyl record is.

I'm 17. Apparently, people below the ages of 16 don't know, or something.

[Slartibartfast]

Vinyl records?

Yes, that's what we old people call those round black discs that were popular before the CDs were invented.

[Slartibartfast]

LP?

Long-Play. Another word for the large vinyl records. The smaller ones were called 45's or something like that.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

A lot late, Slartibartfast.

[Slartibartfast]

Ah. But my question is, how do you fit music onto grooves?

Ever noticed how big noises make glass windows vibrate? Ever used one of those phones built with two empty cans and a length of string? This vibration is equivalent to the sound waves, so it transmits sound.

If you somehow attach such a vibrating thingy to a needle, and made that needle draw lines in a long piece of clay or clay-like stuff, the lines would be irregular because it would imprint the vibrations. If you later pass the needle over the grooves when it has hardened, and amplify it, you will hear back those same sounds.

[Slartibartfast]

I didn't really start listening to music until I was about 13 (~1995), so I had a bunch of those story books and 78 RPM records (you know, the ones that chimed/told you when to turn the page). We still have a whole bunch of them, including ones for the Star Wars Trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and Star Trek I-III (I think. I know we had up to II).

Some of the records eventually would get cracked, so I'm quite familiar with how a broken record sounds.

I've never actually had the pleasure/displeasure of meeting someone who didn't know what a record was.

I remember having one storybook record, The Jungle Book I think. Also I had that awful ruby-red LP with the Star Wars soundtrack - Radio Shack version... ugh.

[Slartibartfast]

I didn't really start listening to music until I was about 13 (~1995), so I had a bunch of those story books and 78 RPM records (you know, the ones that chimed/told you when to turn the page). We still have a whole bunch of them, including ones for the Star Wars Trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and Star Trek I-III (I think. I know we had up to II).

Some of the records eventually would get cracked, so I'm quite familiar with how a broken record sounds.

I've never actually had the pleasure/displeasure of meeting someone who didn't know what a record was.

I remember having one storybook record, The Jungle Book I think. Also I had that awful ruby-red LP with the Star Wars soundtrack - Radio Shack version... ugh.

[Slartibartfast]

A lot late, Slartibartfast.

I don't like being on the BBS all day long...

[MirrorUniverseSpy1]

wow. There are people who never heard of records....I'm amazed.

[C.S.Strowbridge]

I keep hearing people calling other people 'broken records' if they repeat themselves for too long.

So what the hell is a 'broken record', anyway? I'm assumng it has something to with 'breaking the record for repeating themselves' or somesuch...

Holy fuck! I haven't aged that fast since I heard one of my favourite songs on the oldies station.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The irony of this all is that I saw a Foxtrot comic using the same damn line as a punchline last week. ("What's a [broken] record?")

[Larz]

I want to get a tube amp with a nice resonance chamber and maybe even a built in distrotion and flange... I know I'm late on the topic, but still, can't help to say "What pointy ended rock have you been living under!!!"...